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Apple among Gen Y most trusted brands
Ok, Generation Y, which brands do you trust the most (for the record, "Generation Y" is comprised of people between the ages of 21-27)? Outlaw Consulting asked that question to a group they referred to as their "...most forward trendsetter* panelists" across several US cities, and Apple topped the list. According to Outlaw, brands that the subjects viewed as "straightforward" were viewed favorably. Also, plain packaging that seemed to "...avoid excess" scored well. That seems to be consistent with Apple's famed "out-of-box experience," wouldn't you say? Other brands in the top 15 include: Trader Joe's Jet Blue Ben & Jerry's Whole Foods Vitamin Water As a representative of Generation X myself, let me say, "Vitamin Water?!? It's just water. I'll never understand kids these days."*Read: The crazy ones.[Via Macsimum News]
SXSW: Games + Entertainment Brands: Five Top Trends In 2007
This panel brought together Robert Nashak, GM of Yahoo Games, Chris Charla, director of business development for Foundation 9, Charles Merrin from Real Networks, and Brian Ring, the GM of Interactive Content for Scope Seven. The purpose was to discuss the top five trends in 2007 in the realm of gaming and entertainment. When games meet entertainment brands, it's traditionally meant a game based on a movie that comes out a few weeks (or months) after the film has hit theaters. However, for the past few years games have started to be released concurrently with the films, or even before the movies come out. Hollywood studios now include video game development in the earliest stages of pre-production, and even involve game companies in the writing process.Games + Entertainment Brands also encompasses traditional board games, like Scrabble and Monopoly, being licensed for video games, and toys like Bratz and Barbie as well. We break down the top five trends that will be hitting games + entertainment brands in 2007 after the jump.
College students shunning free music subscription services
It's the rare college student who will turn down free anything -- free food, free booze, and free love are all top priorities for the modern scholar -- so we were more than a little surprised to learn that those online music subscriptions being offered gratis by a number of colleges haven't really taken off like one would assume. In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal, the services from Napster and company have proven so unpopular that many schools are dropping the program altogether after only a year or two, although the RIAA claims that the number of participating campuses will actually increase "pretty significantly" this fall. Even if that's true, it's not clear why students at newly-subscribed schools would behave any differently than ones who already have access to the free tunes and still choose alternative distribution methods -- most notably the iTunes music store and the still-popular P2P networks. Ultimately it seems to be the services' many restrictions that are turning off the college crowd -- tracks can't always be burned to disc or transferred to a DAP, and they also disappear after four years -- and the fact that students today treasure their iPods even more than their precious cans of beer only makes non-FairPlay content that much more undesirable.[Via TechDirt]
